4 Reasons Why Your Career Stalled

I hear it all the time when I talk with people. They don’t understand how their bright, promising career ended up well, wherever they are. Maybe they’re unhappily stuck in middle management and perhaps they’ve never moved on from what they thought was their “first job”. For whatever the reason, they can’t move on from:

• a specific title
• a certain pay grade
• a company they don’t love
• a reputation that won’t budge

The truth is, there are lots of reasons your career can stall but the underlying reasons are generally one of the following:

1) You refuse to take accountability but rush to take credit.

The tricky thing about this particular trait is that it’s actually attractive in some corporate environments so young entry level pros form poor habits. Basically, the teamwork culture of school, higher education and finally many companies, relies on lots of drones and some managers. Early on, the manager types take the credit and the drones begrudgingly hope someone will notice their hard work. This rarely happens and the drones become resentful and start pushing back on those who take credit without taking the heat when things go wrong. Eventually the credit takers find themselves at the bottom of the heap wondering how things went so terribly wrong.

How you know if this is your issue: You’ve never offered a public or private apology or “taken one for the team”. Trust me, it’s not because you’ve never been wrong.

2) You don’t follow through.

Knowing your stuff is roughly 1/4 of the battle. If you can talk a big game, or blog, or write, or perform well in meetings, you can skate along for a long time without people recognizing this but it will eventually catch up with you. If the only consistency is your failure to deliver, you have a severe career issue. The good news is that this is one of the easiest issues to fix. It simply takes time and trust from your colleagues.

How you know this is your issue: People rarely come to your for repeat business or things that are time-sensitive. You get very few referrals.

3) You mistake popularity for respect.

A lot of people liking you, stopping by your desk to chat, talking about you is an incredible feeling but it’s not the same as being respected at work. In fact, sometimes it can work against upward mobility. When the boss is wondering who to promote, it won’t be the office prom king, it will be the guy who is doing his work while everyone else chatters away.

4) You rest on your laurels.

Come out strong in the beginning and realize you were way ahead of the pack and decide to relax a little? This classic tortoise and hare career story is all too common. By the time you’ve realized you peaked at 26, everyone else has lapped you a couple of times.

How you know this is your issue: You constantly remind people of “that time I made Forbes 30 under 30 three years in a row!” You’re 46.

Of course, there are countless other reasons why careers stall. It might be you chose badly in the first place or selected a dying industry, but these are some potential reasons you might be stuck in the mud. As always, none of these are things I haven’t stumbled over myself. What are your thoughts? What do YOU think stalls careers?

Maren Hogan

Maren Hogan is CEO of Red Branch and general Bad@$$

Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. Maren started Red Branch Media and, before she hired all the smiling faces you see below, she ran it on her own. In marketing for over 15 years, she has deep experience in strategic campaigns and a long-term, results-based operational approach.